How do I... not be hopelessly lost?

Question

I'm sorry for ANOTHER stupid question, but I'm having a REEEALLY hard time following the Tutorials and searching for help in the forums here. I've just attached my ultrasonic distance sensor to my EZ-B4, but I can't figure out how to do anything with it. At this point, I just want to have my robot navigate autonomously (which, to the best of my knowledge, should be a fairly simply process) before moving on to more complex tasks, but I've got no idea how to proceed from here.  What do I need to do to figure this out?

Nomad 6R · Answer

hi bobsheaux i found this video.maybe it helps.also avery window has a question mark ( ? ), klick on that and you get the tutorial how to use it.

Nomad 6R · Answer

more video's  all about atonomous  autonomous

EzAng · Answer

autonomously Line Following with AdventureBot You can use any of the robots that has a camera pointing down to the line Learn how to get your AdventureBot to follow a line autonomously using EZ-Bits and painters tape on the floor. Just follow this video: https://youtu.be/4n6-qSLOiAc here is my robot following the blue line autonomously after watching the video https://youtu.be/ATdOcU-KSm4  Here is Roli Revolution Roli autonomously Line Following with Roli Robot Overlord DJ Sures and Professor E demonstrate how to program Roli to follow a line using the camera. The camera device will use a multicolor filter to identify blue painters tape. The move feature of the camera device will be enabled to allow the camera to control the movement panel. Roli's head servo will be configured to look straight down at the floor. https://youtu.be/J7st7BRfX74 thanks EzAng

Bobsheaux · Answer

I'm not talking about using the camera (that's a whole OTHER set of issues), I want to learn how to use the ultrasonic sensor, and the tutorial's giving me nothing I can use. (Thank you for that Question Mark remark, Nomad 6R, but looking at that same tutorial again, I didn't get anything of value out of it except for how the Ping and Echo ports can be the same.) I don't know what the other settings are/do, I don't know how to apply it to my RoboScratch, and worst of all, I don't even know if I'm explaining my issues properly.

Nomad 6R · Answer

in blockly i see settings for the ping sensor. i am not a programmer.i gess you need some kinda script?

EzAng · Answer

the ultrasonic sensor,  This is the "main" video - follow this video  https://youtu.be/U_xIYUk4qag  You need these controls: *** ultrasonic radar scan  open ***servo movement panel open [url=https://synthiam.com/uploads/user/0F0BCA18C7C66CDE5E9D45284520603D/akk2sqgf.png] For a 3 wire ultrasonic sensor,- Make sure the trigger and echo are on the same port as the ultrasonic sensor, I am using D0 in all 3 examples  I have check **  control movement panel  Misc. ultrasonic collision if you want to use ultrasonic distance if you want to use here is the ultrasonic collision  here is the ultrasonic distance  EzAng

Bobsheaux · Answer

@EzAng That video KIND OF helped, but I have no idea what these values are or what to do with them. I'm trying to follow what's being shown, but now my robot (a hacked Robie Sr.) is moving sporadically.  Basically I'm just trying to accomplish THIS... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhlC7xOUadU

EzAng · Answer

When you are just starting, it is always better to have one of the EZ-robots like Six, JD, Roli, or AdventureBot to work with and try to accomplish a easier task. -:) I f you had one, follow the video above and you would be finished. Anyway, Let's say you have a robot with wheels - use D0 to connect your 3 wire ultrasonic sensor too. In the ultrasonic sensor- Make sure the trigger and echo are on the same port as the ultrasonic sensor, I am using D0 in my examples - make sure you check the  "control movement panel" in the ultrasonic settings. Then in the servo movement panel do this: - look below:  click the 3 dots on the top right - that are left of the question mark, this will talk you to this:  say you use D6 and D7 like me - then save. connect on Connection 0 - that's it - push the sliders up a little for motions thanks EzAng

Bobsheaux · Answer

I've got the movement panel (moving the robot around with the arrow keys is a fun little feature), I have the ultrasonic control linked to the movement panel, but I can't make sense of the ultrasonic controls beyond that. Sometimes it detects something in front of it and turns to avoid it, sometimes it plows right INTO it, sometimes it just stops dead in its tracks, sometimes it still runs after I hit the STOP button on the movement panel... Do I need to read through the tutorials for the other robots before continuing with this?

EzAng · Answer

Keep tweaking the controls and see what setting are best for you, Are you using the ultrasonic radar control? try the ultrasonic collision these sensor should avoid objects,  or stop the movement panel's stop should stop the robot - double check the settings EzAng

Nomad 6R · Answer

lower the speed .and see what your robot do.

EzAng · Answer

Hi Nomad, I guess we are the only here now :-) EzAng

Nomad 6R · Answer

hi ezang 103 people watsh this topic.

Bobsheaux · Answer

Yes, I'm using the ultrasonic radar control.  I slowed down the robot's speed, and it encountered the same issues as before. Sometimes it detected objects and avoided them, sometimes it didn't. I tried hitting STOP on the movement control and it just kept on going.

Nomad 6R · Answer

slow down the speed even more , is your sensor mounted on a rotation servo? the dots below is what the robot detects.

Bobsheaux · Answer

No, the sensor isn't mounted on a rotation servo, and I REALLY hope that it doesn't NEED to be in order to be effective. I didn't get a satisfactory answer to my earlier question of why the rechargeable batteries I bought weren't working, and I just gave up and bought one of the batteries from EZ-Robot's store, making me wonder what the point was in including a holder for 6 AA batteries in the Developer Kit if the EZB was never intended to USE them. Is this another case where this particular component only works if it has ANOTHER component attached to it? I'm sorry for ranting, but every problem I'm encountering with this is just REALLY frustrating, compounded by how it appears that I'm the only one having these issues.

Nomad 6R · Answer

rechargble AA batteries are 1.2 volts. non rechargebles are 1.5 volts. so rechargebles are not so good for using robots . a servo is 7.4 volt .the batterie case has 6 x 1.2 volt=7.2 volts not enought. what happens when you slow down the speed even more?

Nomad 6R · Answer

btw keep ranting and don be a chame for it.and you are not the only one. learn to be patients .you will live longer.:)

DJ Sures · Answer

If you have questions about ezrobot products, they have a learn section with lots of info: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/ Questions about their products and such can be asked on their website with their contact us page.  we’re not ezrobot. Ezrobot won’t see your messages or product feedback here.  as for using an ultrasonic distance sensor, there’s some info in the arc manual in the docs section

Nomad 6R · Answer

Bobsheaux witsh arc are you using?

Bobsheaux · Answer

I've upgraded to the latest version of ARC, and the speed of robot has been reduced to half of what I had it at the last time.  Here are my current ultrasonic settings, and the only values here that I recognize are the EZB ports into which I've plugged the appropriate servos and ultrasonic sensor.  What's weird is that I didn't even need to hit the FORWARD command on the servo movement panel like I was doing before. As soon as I connected the robot, it was moving on its own.  But it wasn't even MOVING on its own, it was... rocking to the left and right very faintly, and backing up slightly. Yes, I see that I have 'Reverse Before Turn' selected, I wanted to give it some room to clear whatever might be blocking its way.  But now it's just looking back and forth slightly, not going anywhere, but backing away, and then it just STOPS before I tell it to stop.  Hitting the Stop button myself doesn't work, and if the radar scan screen devoid of red dots is any indication, it wasn't detecting anything.  It seriously looked like it was AFRAID of doing anything, and it couldn't even see any reason TO be afraid of doing anything. :/

Nomad 6R · Answer

can you take arc from adventurebot to test your robot movements? ( arrow keys ) you can delete the camera window if you dont use a camera.

Bobsheaux · Answer

I can't connect my EZB to the Adventurebot, and the arrow key commands were already working fine before.

Nomad 6R · Answer

any ezbv4 can connect to any ez robot just saying.can you upload a chort video? what kind of wheels are you using? does your arrow keys work fine now?

Bobsheaux · Answer

No, I can't connect to the Adventurebot, the arrow keys work fine when I'm not trying to use the ultrasonic, and the original Robie Sr. wheels that I'm using aren't an issue.

Bobsheaux · Answer

And now my camera's not connecting... Wtf?...

Nomad 6R · Answer

hi bobsheaux do you save your project on your pc?and maybe you can take a new window ultrasonic. check the cabke from your camera bolt sides.

Bobsheaux · Answer

Yes, I save my project constantly. And as near as I can tell, the connection of the cable on both ends of my camera is perfectly fine.

Nomad 6R · Answer

maybe its possible you have a bad download .you can remove it and redownload it. also i read some post about the camera cable.solution is to turn the cable 180 degree.

Bobsheaux · Answer

No, it's still not connecting.

Nomad 6R · Answer

can you try another camera window?

Bobsheaux · Answer

Okay, THAT worked, THANK YOU. lol And I guess I'll poke around what the other tutorials have to say about the ultrasonic sensor.

Nomad 6R · Answer

EUREKA haha.try a very slow speed.if you put the ultrasonic on a servo, to turn left/right its more fun.

Bobsheaux

How Do I... Not Be Hopelessly Lost?

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